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Internal Talent Management

How internal talent management keeps you competitive

We need the right people sitting in the right seats.

If you’re familiar with the phrase, then you know it’s all about finding the right talent fit for your organization. This discussion shifts from the external focus to the internal talent management process. The reality is that we don’t always have the right people sitting in the right seats when we decide to get serious about the process.

So… What now?

Well, you have a few options.

Using internal talent management to fight “fit” problems

First, you can do what most companies do. Nothing. Just cover your ears, close your eyes, and hope it gets better with time.

Good luck with that.

Second, you can sit down with the person and have an open, honest conversation about the mismatch of skills and job requirements. It might be that the employee wasn’t aware of the split and wants to make it right. Conversely, it might come out that the employee is not willing or able to bridge the gap but could still work elsewhere within the organization. If they are a good worker, this could be a win-win-win (for your team, the employee, and the team they end up joining).

The last option, termination, is usually viewed as a last resort. Let’s look at it from a different perspective, though. Maybe the person isn’t a fit with the culture overall. Keeping them around, training them to do the job better, or moving them to another position isn’t going to fix the poor culture fit. In that situation, helping them to see that it’s not going to work out and offering to assist them with transitioning to another organization would be a great way to maintain goodwill and open up a slot for candidate who actually fits. Dale Dauten calls this process “de-hiring.” The end result would be more positive for each party involved, and it isn’t as painful as everyone expects the process to be.

3 thoughts on “Internal Talent Management”

Oooh… How did I miss this post? I’m currently struggling with a placement that I may have been wrong about. I’ve decided to redistribute the responsibilities in the office to provide this employee with something that she may be more successful at. While from the outside that may sound like a terrible idea everything sort of fell into place when I made this move. Heres how: The placement I may have been wrong about will be able to focus attention on one large task instead of needing to distribute her attention between multiple smaller tasks. Ive seen that she’s better under these circumstances. The person I’m basically switching her tasks with has been asking for the last year to do something more than what she does. It is an opportunity for both of them to show me some of that rockstar capability they both say they have. Being that this change just took place Monday I have yet to see if this will build the success of the office, but I’m really hoping so. Regardless of what your guy says-I think that the whole termination process is going to be painful if it comes to that.